15 Landlords Whose Logic Is So Bizarre, Their Tenants Were Left Speechless

Renting an apartment is already a challenge, but the real adventure begins when it comes to dealing with the landlord. Some of them set their own rules, while others come up with such conditions that you could add them to a record book of absurdities. In this article, you’ll find stories about landlords who left tenants completely speechless.

• When I broke up with my first boyfriend, I had to rent a place to live. Websites weren’t very useful back then, so I had to search through newspapers. That’s how I stumbled upon the apartment of “my dreams.” The ad specified that a sweet old lady was renting out a room to a girl with no pets or bad habits. In reality, it was a nightmare. The “room” turned out to be a couch in the kitchen. The lady was thrifty about everything. Extra water usage was frowned upon. Turn off lights. Don’t use the laptop, you’ll use too much electricity. But the biggest shock was when, after I moved in, she was appalled that I wasn’t making her breakfast. Apparently, the previous tenant used to get up early and make oatmeal for both of them. She would then come back in the evening and prepare dinner. I didn’t even last a week there. When I told the landlady I was leaving, she even offered to lower the rent. © Unknown author / Pikabu
• My worst landlord probably doesn’t compare to others, but we weren’t allowed anything on the walls, not just the normal photos and decors, I mean furniture, beds and everything had to be no closer than one inch from the wall. Really made us feel like we’re just paying to house sit instead of living there. © cheese_tastey / Reddit
• We live in a rented apartment. One of the strictest conditions from the landlords is no pets. But our 5-year-old son really wanted a dog. After much persuasion, the child finally agreed to a hamster. It was funny when our son named the little creature Rex, and then he taught the hamster to fetch a ball — we were totally amazed. © Not everyone will understand / VK

• I was moving into a dormitory. On my own, without any help from my parents or relatives. Sort of coming of age. And, well, my first attempt was a mess. As it turned out, I ended up in a room for only 2 people (which is a plus), but without a toilet. I didn’t have the money to buy one and didn’t mention anything to my parents. Didn’t even think to complain. I managed for a couple of months as best as I could (the shower stall didn’t work either due to its absence), I would go take a shower at my classmates’ places or my sister’s (she lived on the other side of the city). Less than 2 months later, I moved to another room. But my roommate stayed there. But he only spent the night there a couple of times a week and kept his stuff there. © radoo / Pikabu
• I fell ill once and stayed home. I asked my boyfriend to bring me some medicine. I heard him come in and put the kettle on. I crawled out to say hello and froze — there was the landlady with her son. I was stunned: “Excuse me, what are you doing here?” And she, as if nothing happened, replied, “Oh, we thought you were at work! Do you want to have tea with us?” I look at her, not understanding at all what’s going on: “What tea? Why... why did you come here?” And she calmly responds as if everything is normal: “Well, why not? This is our apartment. We have keys.” I’m standing there, silent, because I don’t even know what to say. It turned out, they would often visit like this when I wasn’t home. After that, I couldn’t live there anymore.
• I decided to make a romantic surprise for my boyfriend, you know, with candles and dinner. I rented an apartment for a day to make it nice, without our smelly wallpaper. I arrived early, cleaned up, prepared everything, bought a dress, even scattered rose petals on the bed like in the movies. I sat there waiting for him. Then the doorbell rang. I opened it — and there stood an old lady in a robe, with a mesh bag! She said, “Who are you people? This is actually my apartment.” My jaw dropped! It turned out the owner who rented the place was her son, who rented out the apartment behind her back while she was living at the summer house, without telling her. We called him, but he wouldn’t answer. And just imagine the scene: me in a dress, candles, roses, food... and the old lady in the middle of it says, “Well, since you’re here, let’s at least have dinner together!” In the end, the 3 of us sat there, eating her cutlets. My boyfriend later said it was “the most unconventional dinner in his life!” By the way, the old lady turned out to be quite cool. © Not everyone will understand / VK

• I was looking for an apartment and found one at a pleasant price. I was ready to rent it, but then I noticed the carpet on the bedroom wall was strangely bulging. I asked the owner why it was like that. He blushed: “Oh, didn’t I mention?!” I pulled the carpet aside and was stunned. There was a door to the elevator shaft. It turned out that the owner forgot to warn me that, every month, workers would come to this apartment on the attic floor for an elevator inspection, and that door doesn’t close. Also, you can hear the elevator every time someone uses it.
• I was searching for an apartment to rent. I bought newspapers and called ads. One seemed tempting. A studio in the center, the area listed was smaller than usual but also quite cheap. There had to be a catch. I called. They informed me that yes, it’s in the center, a studio. I asked why it was so cheap. The response was that it was previously rented as an office but could also be used as living space. They would provide a bed, but the rest of the furniture wasn’t great. There was a kitchen. Having learned from bitter experience, I asked if there was a bathroom/toilet. They said there’s a toilet but no bathtub or shower. I was taken aback. I asked, how do you bathe then? I’d already had similar problems 2 years earlier. The reply was — go to the bathhouse, it’s just around the corner. © radoo / Pikabu
• In December, I moved into a new apartment, loved everything, a stunning location, but there was one problem — no hot water. I talked to the landlady, she promised it would be provided, but by mid-January, it still hadn’t appeared. Over these 4 months, I got used to heating water in pots and washing by pouring water from a bowl. Now it’s getting warmer and I’ve been taking cold showers for a week, toughening up, and strengthening my health. Yesterday, the landlady stopped by and gave me the news, “Vincent, they should be providing hot water soon!” Thanks, I really need it now... © Not everyone will understand / VK

• At the last apartment I rented, I had several conversations with the landlord about putting in plastic windows and replacing the wallpaper with something more durable — all to be deducted from the rent, of course. She refused. We saved up a bit and stumbled upon a good mortgage option to buy our own apartment. I told the landlord we were moving out, and she said, “Well, then I’ll sell this one.” She came to check the place: “Oh! Where are the plastic windows? And why isn’t the wallpaper changed?” I said, “Well, we didn’t agree to do it as part of the rent payment.” She replied, “Well, I thought that even though I didn’t agree, you would do it at your own expense. You weren’t happy with what was there.” © Priestone / Pikabu
• We somehow managed to rent an apartment. At first, things seemed fine, but 2 weeks later, we found “uninvited guests” in the apartment. We immediately contacted the landlord to address the problem. Her response was that it’s expensive. If we wanted it done, we’d have to pay ourselves. Without much hesitation, we moved out 2 days later. She even refused to return the rest of the rent and deposit, although according to the agreement, she shouldn’t have kept them. However, in the apartment we moved to, the owners ended up being quite reasonable. Even the slightest issues were handled right away, and anything that needed replacing was replaced. Recently, we moved into our own apartment. Those landlords even refunded the money for the time we didn’t live there and threw in a little extra cash as a housewarming gift. © lutseferiya / Pikabu
• 9 months after I moved out from my rented apartment, the landlord called and told me that the new tenant, who has lived there for half a year, said there’s a crack in the sink, and it definitely wasn’t him who did it. Therefore, he claimed it was us. But this kind tenant repaired the crack and now wants the landlord to pay for the repair. She called me to ask to cover at least half of this amount.
  It’s worth noting that when we moved out, there were no cracks in the sink, she checked everything thoroughly when we left. There might not have even been cracks at the time of the call; the guy might have just been trying to con the old lady out of money. © PerfectLawyer / Pikabu

• We rented an apartment for $3K. When we drew up the contract, we discussed that we would be living with cats, paid a deposit for this, and everyone was in agreement and happy. We also accepted the apartment “as is,” with non-working light bulbs, a leaking towel warmer, loose bathroom tiles, a bathroom door without a lock, and falling curtains. All of this was promised to be repaired and fixed. A year later, the rent was raised to $3.5K, allegedly because of the cats, nothing was fixed, and when we moved out, they charged an additional $1.5K for “full cleaning after your cats and scratched door frames and wallpaper,” taking both the deposit and the recalculation for the incomplete month and forcing us to write a receipt for the balance. Now we’re renting another apartment for $2.7K, which is cozier than the previous one. © Gamer.Hikka / Pikabu
• My boyfriend and I were looking for an apartment to rent for a long time, finally found a suitable option and went to take a look. Everything suited us, and then the apartment owner asked what breed our cat was. We were puzzled, telling her we had no pets, and saw complete disappointment in her eyes. It turned out she only rented the apartment to people with cats because she loves them very much. We were upset, and she shared that her cats had just had kittens and she could give one to us if we really needed it. We had been thinking about getting a pet for a while, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Of course, we agreed! © Some won’t understand / VK
• I rent an apartment. The owner is peculiar: she told me that if anyone asks, I’m her niece, not a tenant. I said okay. Recently, my power went out for the entire day, though usually, it doesn’t. I noticed that there was no power only in my apartment. I called the owner, she called the electricians, and it turned out my apartment had been disconnected from the panel. On that day, I happened to see my neighbor fiddling with the wires in the hallway. © Some won’t understand / VK

And these people rented a place and ended up with an unexpected story.